Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based talking therapy that helps you understand how thoughts, feelings and behaviours interact. It focuses on practical strategies to reduce symptoms and improve coping.

CBT is commonly used for anxiety, depression, panic, phobias and OCD, and is typically structured with clear goals and homework between sessions.

Lets find you a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist...

Or, view all Cognitive Behavioural Therapist

CBT is a structured therapy that focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours, testing them in real life, and building more helpful coping strategies. It is usually collaborative, goal-led and time-limited compared with some other therapies.

What happens in CBT?

Early sessions involve assessment and agreeing goals (for example reducing panic attacks, improving mood, or reducing avoidance). You may learn models that explain your symptoms, then practise techniques such as thought challenging, behavioural experiments, graded exposure, and problem-solving.

What can CBT help with?

Anxiety and worry
Panic attacks and panic disorder
Phobias and avoidance
Depression and low mood
OCD (often with exposure and response prevention)
Stress and coping skills

How long does CBT take?

Many CBT programmes run for a set number of sessions (for example 6–20), depending on the problem and severity. Progress is usually faster when you can practise skills between sessions. A good therapist will review outcomes regularly and adapt the plan if needed.

Choosing a CBT therapist in the UK

Look for someone trained in CBT with clear information on how they work, confidentiality, safeguarding and outcome tracking. If you have complex trauma or multiple issues, you may benefit from a therapist experienced in more integrative or trauma-informed CBT approaches.

History of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT developed in the 20th century through the integration of behavioural therapy and cognitive therapy approaches. It became one of the most researched psychological treatments, with structured models and techniques for specific difficulties.

In the UK, CBT is widely used in NHS and private settings and is commonly recommended for a range of anxiety and mood-related conditions.

Typical conditions that use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Condition	Evidence	Notes
Acne-related confidence concerns	strong	CBT helps challenge the negative self-talk and avoidance habits that acne can trigger, easing low confidence and social anxiety.
Addiction / dependency support	strong	CBT helps people in recovery identify triggers and cravings and build coping strategies to prevent relapse.
ADHD (support / coaching alongside medical care)	strong	CBT helps adults with ADHD build practical skills for planning, organisation and impulse control, and tackle the low mood or anxiety that often accompanies it.
Anger issues	strong	Helps you spot the thoughts and triggers that fuel anger and build calmer, more measured responses in the moment.
Anxiety	strong	Core, evidence-based treatment for anxiety: structured skills, exposure and managing unhelpful worry.
Asthma-related anxiety support (adjunct)	strong	Helps you recognise and reframe the catastrophic thoughts about breathlessness that drive panic and worsen asthma-related anxiety.
Attachment issues	strong	CBT helps identify and reshape the beliefs about closeness and rejection that drive insecure attachment behaviours.
Autism / ASC support	strong	Adapted CBT helps autistic people manage co-occurring anxiety and low mood, using concrete, structured techniques.
Bipolar disorder (support alongside medical care)	strong	Helps people with bipolar disorder spot early warning signs, challenge unhelpful thinking and stick to mood-stabilising routines alongside medication.
Body image concerns	strong	CBT helps you identify and challenge distorted beliefs about your appearance and reduce the checking and avoidance that keep body image distress going.
Boundary issues	strong	Helps you spot the thoughts and beliefs that lead to over-giving or saying yes, so you can set firmer limits.
Breathing pattern dysfunction support	strong	CBT addresses the anxiety and catastrophic interpretations of breathlessness that drive over-breathing, helping break the panic-hyperventilation cycle.
Burnout	strong	Helps you recognise burnout, pace recovery and rebuild healthier thinking and boundaries around work.
Cancer emotional support (men)	strong	CBT helps men challenge anxious or hopeless thoughts about their cancer and rebuild a sense of control over daily life during treatment.
Career change support	strong	CBT challenges the unhelpful beliefs and fears about failure or change that can keep you stuck and stop you acting on a career move.
Caregiver stress	strong	CBT helps carers identify unhelpful thoughts about their role and build practical coping strategies for the daily demands of caring.
Chronic fatigue syndrome / ME support (adjunct)	strong	CBT can help people with ME/CFS manage the emotional impact of living with the illness and adapt activity around their limits.
Chronic illness adjustment	strong	CBT helps people challenge unhelpful thoughts about their diagnosis and build practical coping strategies for living with chronic illness.
Complex PTSD	strong	Helps people with complex PTSD challenge trauma-related beliefs and build coping skills for flashbacks, avoidance and hyperarousal.
Compulsive behaviours	strong	CBT, often with exposure and response prevention, helps you resist compulsive urges and challenge the thoughts that drive them.
Confidence building	strong	CBT helps identify and challenge the self-critical thoughts that undermine confidence, replacing them with more balanced, realistic self-beliefs.
Co-parenting challenges	strong	Helps each parent recognise unhelpful thought patterns that fuel conflict and develop calmer, more constructive responses to the other.
Cravings	strong	CBT helps you identify the triggers behind cravings and build practical coping strategies to resist and weaken the urge over time.
Depression	strong	First-line, evidence-based treatment for depression: rebuilding activity and challenging negative thinking.
Difficulty reaching orgasm	strong	Targets the performance anxiety, spectatoring and unhelpful beliefs that block arousal and make reaching orgasm harder.
Domestic abuse recovery support (sensitive)	strong	CBT helps survivors challenge self-blame and fearful thinking patterns left by abuse, building coping skills for anxiety, low mood and intrusive memories.
Eating disorder recovery support (alongside specialist care)	strong	A first-line treatment for eating disorders, helping to challenge distorted beliefs about food, weight and body image and rebuild regular eating.
Eczema stress impact support	strong	Helps break the itch-scratch cycle and ease the stress and low mood that can flare eczema, supporting better skin habits.
Emotional dysregulation (neurodiversity)	strong	CBT teaches neurodivergent people to spot emotional triggers and apply concrete strategies to manage overwhelm and impulsive reactions.
Emotional eating	strong	CBT helps identify the thoughts and feelings that trigger emotional eating and build alternative ways to cope with distress.
Emotional regulation difficulties	strong	Helps you recognise the thoughts that trigger overwhelming feelings and build practical skills to respond more calmly and steadily.
Erectile dysfunction	strong	Helps identify and reframe the performance anxiety and negative thoughts that maintain erectile difficulties during intimacy.
Exam stress	strong	CBT helps students identify catastrophic thoughts about failing and replace them with realistic appraisals, easing exam anxiety.
Executive dysfunction	strong	CBT targets the unhelpful thinking and avoidance patterns that stall task initiation, teaching structured strategies for organisation and time management.
Family conflict	strong	Cognitive behavioural therapy helps individuals notice the thoughts and reactions that escalate family arguments and respond more constructively.
Fatherhood adjustment	strong	CBT helps new fathers challenge unhelpful thoughts about competence and identity, easing the anxiety and low mood that adjusting to parenthood can bring.
Fatigue	strong	CBT helps identify the unhelpful activity and rest patterns that perpetuate fatigue, building a steadier balance of energy across the day.
Feeling overwhelmed	strong	CBT helps you spot the racing, catastrophic thoughts that fuel overwhelm and break tasks into manageable, ordered steps.
Fertility stress (emotional support)	strong	Helps you challenge anxious thoughts about conception and manage the distress that fertility struggles can bring.
Fibromyalgia support	strong	Strong evidence for managing the pain, fatigue and low mood of fibromyalgia.
Focus and concentration difficulties	strong	CBT teaches practical strategies to manage distraction, structure tasks and reduce the unhelpful thoughts that derail concentration.
Food-related anxiety (supportive)	strong	CBT helps identify and challenge fearful beliefs about eating, gradually reintroducing avoided foods to ease food-related anxiety.
Friendship difficulties	strong	By examining unhelpful thoughts about rejection or social situations, CBT helps you change patterns that get in the way of forming and keeping friendships.
Gambling problems	strong	CBT helps you identify the thoughts and triggers that drive gambling urges and build practical strategies to resist and manage them.
Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)	strong	First-line treatment for GAD: managing worry, uncertainty and avoidance with structured skills.
Grief and bereavement	strong	Helps where grief has led to stuck thinking, avoidance or depression.
Guilt	strong	Helps identify and challenge the distorted, self-blaming thoughts that fuel persistent guilt, replacing them with fairer appraisals.
Gut-brain stress symptoms	strong	Helps you reframe the anxious thoughts and stress responses that can trigger gut symptoms, easing the brain-gut feedback loop.
Habit change / behaviour change	strong	A structured, evidence-based approach to changing habits by reshaping the thoughts and triggers behind them.
Hair loss-related distress	strong	Helps you challenge distressing thoughts about your appearance after hair loss and rebuild confidence in social situations.
Headaches	strong	Helps you identify headache triggers and reframe the stress and tension cycles that often set off or worsen attacks.
Health anxiety	strong	CBT helps you identify and challenge catastrophic interpretations of bodily sensations and reduce checking and reassurance-seeking.
High blood pressure stress support (adjunct)	strong	CBT targets the anxious thinking and tension patterns that raise blood pressure, helping you respond more calmly to everyday pressures.
Imposter syndrome	strong	CBT helps identify and challenge the distorted self-doubt and 'fraud' beliefs that fuel imposter feelings, replacing them with realistic appraisals of competence.
Insomnia	strong	CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) is the gold-standard treatment for ongoing insomnia.
Intimacy concerns	strong	Helps identify the anxious thoughts and avoidance patterns that fuel intimacy difficulties and replace them with more workable responses.
Intimacy difficulties	strong	Helps identify and reframe the anxious thoughts and avoidance patterns that get in the way of closeness and physical intimacy.
Intrusive thoughts	strong	CBT helps you recognise intrusive thoughts as mental events rather than threats, reducing the urge to suppress or act on them.
Irritability	strong	CBT helps identify the thoughts and triggers behind irritable outbursts, building practical strategies to respond more calmly.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)	strong	CBT helps you recognise how stress and unhelpful thinking patterns can worsen IBS symptoms and gut-related anxiety.
Jealousy	strong	CBT helps you identify the suspicious thoughts and assumptions that fuel jealousy, testing them against evidence and easing the urge to check.
Leadership coaching goals	strong	CBT helps leaders challenge self-limiting beliefs and manage the pressure and self-doubt that can undermine confident decision-making.
Learning difficulties support (non-diagnostic)	strong	Helps people with learning difficulties manage frustration, low confidence and anxiety using structured, practical coping strategies tailored to their pace.
Libido concerns (supportive)	strong	CBT helps identify and reframe the anxious or negative thoughts about sex and performance that can suppress desire and arousal.
Life transitions / adjustment issues	strong	CBT helps you identify and reframe unhelpful thoughts about change, building practical coping skills to navigate a difficult life transition.
Loneliness	strong	CBT helps challenge the negative thoughts about rejection and social worth that keep lonely people withdrawn and isolated.
Long-term condition coping	strong	Helps people living with a long-term condition reframe unhelpful thoughts about illness and build practical coping skills.
Low confidence	strong	Builds confidence by challenging self-critical thinking and testing it against real experience.
Low energy	strong	CBT helps break the cycle of fatigue by gently rebuilding activity, challenging unhelpful beliefs and improving sleep routines that drain energy.
Low libido	strong	Helps identify and reframe anxious or self-critical thoughts about sex and performance that can dampen desire and arousal.
Low mood	strong	First-line, evidence-based approach for low mood: goal-led plans that rebuild activity and challenge negative thinking.
Low mood in men	strong	Helps men identify and reframe the negative thought patterns and withdrawal that often drive persistent low mood.
Low motivation	strong	Rebuilds motivation through behavioural activation and tackling unhelpful thinking.
Low self-esteem	strong	Builds self-esteem by identifying and challenging harsh self-judgement.
Memory concerns (supportive)	strong	Helps you adopt practical memory strategies and challenge the anxious thinking that can make everyday forgetfulness feel worse.
Menopause symptoms	strong	Good evidence for the mood, anxiety and hot-flush distress that can come with menopause.
Migraine support	strong	CBT helps people identify migraine triggers and stress patterns, building coping strategies that can reduce attack frequency and disability.
Motivation and goal setting	strong	Helps identify the unhelpful thoughts and avoidance that stall progress, building practical steps to set and act on realistic goals.
Multiple sclerosis support (adjunct)	strong	Helps people with MS reframe unhelpful thoughts and manage the low mood, anxiety and fatigue that often accompany the condition.
Neuralgia support	strong	Helps you reframe unhelpful thoughts about nerve pain and reduce the distress, avoidance and low mood that often amplify neuralgia.
Non-restorative sleep	strong	Addresses the unhelpful sleep beliefs and habits that leave sleep feeling shallow and unrefreshing, helping restore deeper, restorative rest.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)	strong	Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with exposure and response prevention helps people face OCD triggers without performing compulsions.
Osteoarthritis support	strong	CBT helps people with osteoarthritis manage persistent joint pain, low mood and unhelpful activity patterns that worsen daily function.
Painful sex (dyspareunia)	strong	Helps reframe the anxious, anticipatory thoughts about pain that can heighten muscle tension and avoidance during intimacy.
Panic attacks	strong	CBT helps you identify and challenge the catastrophic thoughts that fuel panic, and reduces avoidance through gradual exposure.
Panic disorder	strong	Helps you identify and reframe catastrophic interpretations of bodily sensations, and use exposure to break the cycle of panic attacks.
Parenting stress	strong	Helps parents identify unhelpful thoughts about their role and build practical coping strategies for daily demands.
Parkinson’s support (adjunct)	strong	Cognitive behavioural therapy helps manage the depression and anxiety that often accompany Parkinson's, reframing unhelpful thoughts and worries.
PCOS support (adjunct)	strong	CBT helps address the low mood, anxiety and body-image distress that often accompany PCOS, and supports lasting lifestyle change.
Pelvic pain	strong	Evidence-based support for the distress, fear-avoidance and low mood that persistent pelvic pain can cause.
People pleasing	strong	CBT helps people-pleasers identify the beliefs driving compulsive approval-seeking and practise setting limits and saying no.
Perfectionism	strong	CBT helps you identify the rigid, all-or-nothing thinking behind perfectionism and test out more flexible, realistic standards.
Performance anxiety	strong	Helps identify and reframe the catastrophic thoughts that fuel performance anxiety, while building practical coping skills for high-pressure situations.
Perimenopause symptoms	strong	CBT helps women reframe distressing thoughts around hot flushes, sleep disruption and low mood, easing how troubling perimenopausal symptoms feel.
Peripheral neuropathy support (adjunct)	strong	Helps you reframe distressing thoughts about persistent nerve pain and build coping skills that reduce its impact on daily life.
Phobias	strong	Through graded exposure and challenging catastrophic thoughts, CBT helps you face the feared object or situation and reduce avoidance.
PMDD support (adjunct)	strong	CBT helps you recognise and reframe the negative thoughts and behaviours that intensify in the luteal phase, easing PMDD's emotional toll.
Postnatal emotional support	strong	Effective, structured support for low mood and anxiety in the postnatal period.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)	strong	Trauma-focused CBT helps you process traumatic memories and challenge the beliefs that keep PTSD's fear and avoidance alive.
Post-viral fatigue support	strong	Helps you manage the frustration, low mood and unhelpful activity patterns that often accompany prolonged fatigue after a viral illness.
Pregnancy anxiety support	strong	First-line, evidence-based treatment for anxiety during pregnancy.
Premature ejaculation	strong	CBT helps men challenge performance anxiety and unhelpful beliefs about sex, and learn techniques to delay ejaculation and rebuild control.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)	strong	CBT helps women reframe negative thoughts and develop coping strategies that ease the mood swings and irritability of PMS.
Procrastination	strong	CBT helps identify the avoidant thoughts and task-aversion behind procrastination, building structured habits to start and finish tasks.
Psoriasis stress impact support	strong	CBT helps people challenge the shame and self-consciousness psoriasis can trigger, easing the stress cycle that often worsens flare-ups.
Public speaking nerves	strong	Helps you identify and challenge the catastrophic thoughts about being judged that fuel fear of speaking in front of others.
Relationship conflict	strong	Helps each partner identify the distorted thoughts and reactions that fuel disputes, replacing them with calmer, fairer responses.
Relationship stress (men)	strong	CBT helps men identify the thought patterns and reactions that fuel conflict, building clearer communication and calmer responses with a partner.
Resilience building	strong	Helps you identify and reframe the unhelpful thinking patterns that undermine confidence, building practical coping skills for setbacks.
Rumination / overthinking	strong	CBT helps you notice repetitive negative thought loops and learn practical techniques to interrupt and redirect overthinking.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)	strong	CBT helps you challenge the low mood and withdrawal that set in over winter and rebuild activity as daylight fades.
Sedentary lifestyle support	strong	Helps identify the thoughts and habits that keep you on the sofa, building practical strategies to make activity stick.
Self-harm thoughts (sensitive)	strong	Helps people identify the thoughts and triggers behind urges to self-harm and build safer ways to cope and stay grounded.
Sensory overload	strong	CBT helps identify the thoughts and avoidance patterns around overwhelming sensory input, building coping strategies to lower distress in busy environments.
Separation / divorce support	strong	Helps you challenge self-critical thoughts about the split and build practical coping strategies for the adjustment ahead.
Sexual difficulties	strong	CBT helps identify and challenge the anxious thoughts and performance worries that maintain many sexual difficulties.
Sexual performance anxiety (supportive)	strong	Targets the anxious thoughts and self-monitoring that fuel performance worries, helping break the cycle of fear and avoidance during intimacy.
Sexual wellbeing concerns (supportive)	strong	Helps identify and challenge the anxious thoughts and performance worries that maintain sexual difficulties, building more relaxed, confident intimacy.
Shame	strong	CBT helps you notice and challenge the harsh self-critical beliefs that fuel shame, replacing them with kinder, more balanced thinking.
Skin picking (dermatillomania) support	strong	Habit reversal training within CBT helps people notice picking urges and substitute a competing response to reduce the behaviour.
Sleep anxiety	strong	Targets the racing thoughts and bedtime worry that fuel sleep anxiety, replacing catastrophic predictions about not sleeping with calmer routines.
Social anxiety	strong	CBT helps identify and challenge the fearful thoughts about being judged that drive social anxiety, while gradual exposure builds confidence in feared situations.
Social isolation	strong	CBT helps identify and challenge the anxious or self-critical thoughts that keep you withdrawn, building confidence to reconnect.
Sports injury recovery support	strong	Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help athletes manage frustration, fear of reinjury and low mood that often accompany a sports injury.
Stammering (stuttering)	strong	CBT helps reframe the anxious thoughts and avoidance around speaking that often accompany stammering, easing fear of certain words or situations.
Stroke recovery support (adjunct)	strong	CBT helps with the low mood, anxiety and frustration that often follow a stroke, supporting adjustment and motivation for rehabilitation.
Time management	strong	Cognitive behavioural therapy targets the procrastination and perfectionist thinking that derail planning, replacing it with workable routines.
TMJ / jaw tension	strong	CBT helps identify and reduce daytime clenching, stress and unhelpful habits that drive jaw muscle tension and pain.
Trauma after accident or assault	strong	Helps you process the accident or assault and challenge frightening beliefs, easing flashbacks, avoidance and hypervigilance.
Trouble falling asleep	strong	CBT for insomnia is the first-line treatment for trouble falling asleep.
Trouble staying asleep	strong	CBT for insomnia tackles the racing thoughts and clock-watching that wake you at night, retraining sleep patterns so you settle back more easily.
Trust issues	strong	Helps identify and challenge the suspicious or catastrophic beliefs that fuel mistrust, replacing them with more balanced expectations of others.
Vaginismus	strong	Helps challenge the fear and anticipatory anxiety driving involuntary muscle tightening, paired with graded vaginal dilation.
Vertigo support	strong	Helps reframe the fear and avoidance that often follow dizzy spells, reducing the anxiety that can worsen and prolong vertigo.
Weight management (behaviour change support)	strong	CBT helps identify and reshape the thoughts and habits around eating that drive weight gain, supporting lasting behaviour change.
Work-life balance	strong	Helps you identify the thoughts and habits driving overwork, then build practical boundaries and routines that protect time for life outside work.
Workplace stress	strong	CBT helps you identify and reframe the unhelpful thinking patterns that fuel work-related pressure, building practical coping skills.
Acid reflux / heartburn support	moderate	CBT can help where stress or anxiety worsens reflux symptoms, addressing the habits and tension that aggravate heartburn.
Balance issues support	moderate	Addressing the anxiety and fear of falling that often follow unsteadiness can help you stay active and break the cycle of avoidance.
Chronic cough impact support	moderate	CBT addresses the cough hypersensitivity and anxious focus that perpetuate a persistent cough, easing the cycle of irritation and coughing.
Communication difficulties	moderate	CBT can help when anxiety or unhelpful beliefs make it harder to speak up, helping you challenge avoidance and build confidence in conversations.
Daytime sleepiness	moderate	Targets the poor sleep habits and racing thoughts that fragment night-time rest, helping reduce the daytime sleepiness that follows.
Diarrhoea	moderate	Cognitive behavioural therapy can ease stress-linked bowel urgency, helping break the anxiety cycle that often worsens recurrent diarrhoea.
Dizziness support	moderate	Useful where dizziness triggers anxiety or avoidance, helping you challenge fearful thoughts and gradually rebuild confidence in movement.
Endometriosis support (adjunct)	moderate	CBT helps you reframe the thoughts and behaviours around persistent pelvic pain, improving coping and daily functioning with endometriosis.
Hay fever impact support	moderate	CBT offers practical tools for managing the frustration, poor sleep and disrupted concentration that hay fever can cause through the summer.
Indigestion / dyspepsia	moderate	Helps reframe the anxiety and gut-focused worry that can heighten dyspeptic symptoms, supporting better day-to-day management of indigestion.
Language and communication difficulties (speech/language)	moderate	Cognitive behavioural therapy can ease the anxiety and avoidance that often build around speaking difficulties, supporting confidence in everyday communication.
Lipolymphoedema support	moderate	CBT helps with the frustration, low mood and body-image worries that often accompany living with a long-term, visibly swollen condition.
Lymphoedema (lymphedema)	moderate	CBT helps you cope with the distress, body-image worries and frustration that living with persistent limb swelling can bring.
Menstrual cramps / painful periods	moderate	CBT can help you manage the distress and disruption of recurring period pain, reframing unhelpful thoughts and improving coping.
Nausea support	moderate	Helps where anticipatory or anxiety-driven nausea takes hold, retraining the thoughts and triggers that worsen the feeling.
Plantar heel pain (plantar fasciitis)	moderate	CBT can help when persistent heel pain affects mood or activity, supporting coping and pacing; it complements, not replaces, physical care.
Rheumatoid arthritis support (adjunct)	moderate	CBT can help you manage the pain, fatigue and low mood that often accompany rheumatoid arthritis, improving coping and day-to-day function.
Sinus congestion support	moderate	CBT can help when persistent congestion drives health anxiety or disrupted sleep, teaching coping strategies that reduce the distress around symptoms.
Stress	moderate	Structured, evidence-based work on unhelpful thinking, problem-solving and practical coping skills.
Tremor support	moderate	CBT can help manage the anxiety and self-consciousness that often make tremor feel worse, and build coping strategies for daily tasks.
Voice problems	moderate	CBT can help where voice problems are driven or worsened by anxiety, tension or fear of using the voice, easing the cycle of strain.
Swelling (oedema)	limited	Coping with persistent swelling can be distressing; CBT may offer supportive help with the emotional impact, though it does not treat the swelling itself and is not a substitute for medical care.

Frequently asked questions

How many CBT sessions will I need?

Often 6–20 sessions depending on goals and response.

Is there homework?

Yes. Brief practice tasks help apply skills in daily life.

Can CBT work online?

Many CBT elements translate well to video sessions; structure remains similar.